Episode 00 - Introducing Beautiful Illusions
Jeff and Darron ponder the intersection of reality, consciousness, and culture through conversations that comprise an ongoing attempt to construct meaning by exploring art and science, develop understanding of the context underpinning our current moment in time, and imagine possible futures for human civilization. No expertise here, just two guys who enjoy learning, thinking, and talking about big ideas, deep questions, and the “beautiful illusion” that is the subjective human experience. In this introduction to Beautiful Illusions we lay out some of the major ideas, questions, and thinking that have led to the development of the project, discuss what Beautiful Illusions means to us, and we introduce a few areas of thought that will be further expounded upon in future episodes.
Show Notes:
1:46 - Friedrich Nietzsche’s concept of the Overman (Superman, or Ubermensch) as presented in the prologue of Thus Spake Zarathustra: “I TEACH YOU THE SUPERMAN. Man is something that is to be surpassed. What have ye done to surpass man? All beings hitherto have created something beyond themselves: and ye want to be the ebb of that great tide, and would rather go back to the beast than surpass man? What is the ape to man? A laughing-stock, a thing of shame. And just the same shallman be to the Superman: a laughing-stock, a thing of shame.”
2:40 - Jean Baudrillard , Hyperreality, and Simulacra and Simulation
4:56 - “Of 2 Minds: How Fast and Slow Thinking Shape Perception and Choice” from Scientifc American, excerpted from Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman (book overview from Wikipedia)